Politicians schedule 'space wars' meetingPoliticians from ten countries are set to meet in Washington DC this Wednesday, to discuss the future possibility of deploying weapons in space.
Sci-fi as it may sound, the question of space weaponry is one that is being considered quite seriously by the US air force, which argues that weapons are needed to protect satellites.
However, opponents warn that space weapons could spark a new arms race, and point out that orbiting weapons could be used offensively as easi... (more)
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Cover-up: toxic waters 'will make New Orleans unsafe for a decade'Toxic chemicals in the New Orleans flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a decade, a US government official has told The Independent on Sunday. And, he added, the Bush administration is covering up the danger.
In an exclusive interview, Hugh Kaufman, an expert on toxic waste and responses to environmental disasters at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the way the polluted water was being pumped out was increasing the danger to health... (more)
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Leaders must 'back forces of law'Community leaders in Northern Ireland must back the forces of law, Secretary of State Peter Hain has said.
He was speaking after a weekend of rioting in the city that left 50 police officers injured.
The violence started after a Protestant Orange Order parade was re-routed away from a nationalist area of west Belfast on Saturday.
Mr Hain said "responsible community and political leaders must come foursquare behind the forces of law and order".
... (more)
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Mississippi guardsmen in Iraq refused leave timeBAGHDAD - Scores of Mississippi National Guardsmen in Iraq who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina have been refused even 15-day leaves to aid their displaced families, told by commanders there are too few U.S. troops in Iraq to spare them, according to guardsmen.
About 600 members of the Mississippi Guard's 155th Brigade Combat Team, posted south of Baghdad, live in the parts of southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana hit hardest by Katrina, Maj. Neil F. Murphy Jr., a spok... (more)
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Paul Hellyer, onetime cabinet minister, takes up the cause of believers in UFOsOTTAWA (CP) - Paul Hellyer, onetime cabinet minister and a political chameleon who went through Liberal and Tory colours before founding two political parties of his own, has a new cause - UFOs.
Hellyer is to be a featured speaker at a UFO conference in Toronto later this month and organizers are making much of his credentials as a former defence minister in the Pearson administration 40 years ago.
Skeptics are, well, skeptical.
The 82-year-old Hellye... (more)
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National Enquirer Publisher Made Pay-Offs To Suppress Schwarzenegger Playboy Tape During Recall ElectionSACRAMENTO — Soon after Arnold Schwarzenegger entered the 2003 recall campaign, a tabloid publisher that was recruiting him as a consultant tried to suppress a risque 1983 Playboy video starring the future governor.
The video, which had first aired years before on the Playboy Channel, shows him grabbing a scantily clad woman and making other sexually suggestive gestures.
American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, paid Thomas Wells of Los Angeles ... (more)
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Supposed Damage to Gulf Coast Oil Production Leads to All-Time High Gas PricesLOS ANGELES Sep 11, 2005 — Damage to Gulf Coast refineries and pipelines by Hurricane Katrina pushed retail gas prices to historic highs in the past two weeks, with self-serve regular averaging more than $3 a gallon for the first time ever, according to a nationwide survey released Sunday.
The weighted average price for all three grades surged more than 38 cents to nearly $3.04 a gallon between Aug. 26 and Sept. 9, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg... (more)
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Foreseeable Problems on the Horizon as Disneyland Opens in Hong Kong By David Eimer in Beijing
Published: 12 September 2005
According to the Chinese almanac Tung Ching, 12 September is supposed to be a lucky day to start a business. But as China's Vice-President, Zeng Qinghong, prepares to preside over the grand opening of Hong Kong's Disneyland today, the portents for one of the former British colony's most high-profile ventures in recent years are anything but promising.
The park faces a potential lawsuit from the Hong Kong... (more)
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U.S. Senate OKs restrictions on cold medicines: Plans for a centralized database to track purchases of the medicineWASHINGTON — Sales of over-the-counter cold remedies used to make methamphetamine would be restricted under a measure approved by the U.S. Senate on Friday.
The bill would require stores to sell Sudafed, Nyquil and other medicines only from behind the pharmacy counter.
Those medicines contain the ingredient pseudoephedrine, which can be extracted to manufacture the highly addictive drug that has wreaked havoc in communities across the country.
... (more)
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Overkill: Feared Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New OrleansNEW ORLEANS -- Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the au... (more)
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Tape Released: American al Qaeda Member Warns of AttacksSep. 11, 2005 - In an apparent Sept. 11 communiqué broadcast on ABC News, an al Qaeda operative threatens new attacks against cities in the US and Australia.
"Yesterday, London and Madrid. Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, God willing. At this time, don't count on us demonstrating restraint or compassion," the tape warns. "We are Muslims. We love peace, but peace on our terms, peace as laid down by Islam, not the so-called peace of occupiers and dictators."
... (more)
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U.S. Envisions Using Nukes on TerroristsWASHINGTON Sep 11, 2005 — A Pentagon planning document being updated to reflect the doctrine of pre-emption declared by President Bush in 2002 envisions the use of nuclear weapons to deter terrorists from using weapons of mass destruction against the United States or its allies.
The "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations," which was last updated 10 years ago, makes clear that "the decision to employ nuclear weapons at any level requires explicit orders from the president."... (more)
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Bush's Approval Rating Plumets: NEWSWEEK poll suggests President Bush could become Katrina’s next casualtySept. 10, 2005 - Hurricane Katrina claimed her first political casualty Friday. Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, the federal disaster readiness and response agency, was sidelined from the largest disaster relief project in the nation’s history. Brown was recalled to Washington by his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. But a new NEWSWEEK Poll suggests the post-Katrina political storm may just be rising. And her ultimate casualty could be President George W. Bush.
... (more)
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Pentagon opens 9/11 "crash site" to publicWASHINGTON - Quiet and respectful, scores of people on Saturday walked past the impact point where a hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, as the military allowed one-day tours for the general public.
"We are living that part of history," said Ailyn Alonso, 54, of Bethesda, Md. "We learn from the past."
She was among about 20 people who walked from a Pentagon parking lot to the southwest portion of the Defense Department headquarters where the ... (more)
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Flashback: Red Cross Distributes Less Than 30 Percent of 9/11 DonationsNovember 6, 2001 Posted: 9:39 PM EST (0239 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Charities swung into action after the September 11 terrorist attacks, raising more than $1 billion. But questions are being raised about where and how and how much of that money is being distributed.
Bearing the brunt Tuesday during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight panel was outgoing Red Cross President Dr. Bernadine Healy.
The Red Cross has raised more... (more)
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Sun Unleashes 5 Major Flares, Earth May Soon Get PoundedAn ongoing series of major solar flares, including one late Friday, could disrupt communications on Earth and generate colorful sky shows for people at high northern latitudes over the weekend.
Even more serious effects are possible next week.
The spate of activity from the Sun is being generated by a large sunspot named 798. Sunspots are cooler and darker regions of pent-up magnetic activity. When they unleash their energy, it's a bit like the top coming off a ... (more)
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Cops trapped survivors in New OrleansWASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- Police from surrounding jurisdictions shut down several access points to one of the only ways out of New Orleans last week, effectively trapping victims of Hurricane Katrina in the flooded and devastated city.
An eyewitness account from two San Francisco paramedics posted on an internet site for Emergency Medical Services specialists says, 'Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the city on foot.'
... (more)
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U.S. won't ban media from New Orleans searches: CNN filed suit for right to cover search for bodies of Katrina victimsHOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- Rather than fight a lawsuit by CNN, the federal government abandoned its effort Saturday to prevent the media from reporting on the recovery of the dead in New Orleans.
Joint Task Force Katrina "has no plans to bar, impede or prevent news media from their news gathering and reporting activities in connection with the deceased Hurricane Katrina victim recovery efforts," said Col. Christian E. deGraff, representing the task force.
U.S. District... (more)
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Honor students sent home after dying hairWAUKOMIS -- Three honor students who say they have never been disciplined before were sent home from school Thursday for dying their hair.
The girls -- all freshmen and all straight-A students -- said they were not warned before being told they would not be allowed back in class until they changed their hair color. The absence is considered unexcused, according to a discipline report given to the students, which means they will not be allowed to make up any tests or assignments th... (more)
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Court Vacates an FBI Gag OrderFor the second time since the USA Patriot Act broadened the FBI's power to demand private records in secret, a federal judge ruled yesterday that it is unconstitutional for the government to impose an automatic and permanent ban on public disclosure of any case in which it uses that power.
U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall found that the statutory gag order, invoked every time the FBI uses a "national security letter" to demand information in terrorism or espionage cases, violated... (more)
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Army Recruiters Set Their Sights On Hurricane VictimsThis almost missed item in the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire today is simply outrageous. Bush's failure in Iraq has stretched the military so thin that recruiters are on the verge of taking advantage of the hurricane to basically draft the victims.
In case you don't subscribe, here's what the Journal wrote today:
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: Ten U.S. Army recruiters are offering volunteer help for Katrina vicitms at Houston's Astrodome. But the recruiters, str... (more)
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Watchmen stand vigil in city’s wealthiest homes: Residents stay behind to protect mansions, luxury cars, other possessionsNEW ORLEANS - Just blocks from a smoldering fire and walking distance from bodies floating in the floodwaters, John Crouch and Andy Guzman debated what to make for dinner.
As the sun set, the men had hurriedly chained up the cast-iron fence and locked themselves into the 10,000-square-foot, gray-green Greek Revival mansion for the night. Three dogs, three handguns and five shotguns kept them company.
Earlier in the week, the men feasted on Cornish hens and jumbo shr... (more)
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Stun gun leaves man critical: Sister, witness criticize Colonial Beach police for using Taser on man with brain condition. A 43-year-old man was in critical condition in a Richmond hospital last night with a fractured skull after Colonial Beach police shot him with a Taser stun gun.
Police did not identify the man, citing his "degenerative brain disease." But they said in the news release that he was suicidal and threatening officers.
The man's sister, who did not wish to be identified, said her brother "wasn't doing anything to threaten the police" when he was shot on Irving Avenue ar... (more)
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Gonzales allies trumpet conservative viewsWASHINGTON - Supporters of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales have launched a campaign to rebut criticism that he is not reliably conservative enough to serve on the Supreme Court, a move likely to intensify a rift within Republican circles over one of President Bush's closest confidants.
The group of former Gonzales aides and other Republicans still in the Bush administration -- most of whom are close to top White House officials -- are coordinating with one another, sharpening... (more)
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Evacuees in Astrodome: The 17th street levee was bombed, food not being provided, we are trapped like prisoners, 20 rapes a night in stadiumReport from the Houston Astrodome...
10:23: Joel just got removed. Almost arrested. Fox News is down on the floor. I’m in dome, hiding in seats. They’re allowing some media on the floor, not others.
10:31 Just met members of the Polish press, they are being stopped from entering floor. Says this is like the former USSR.
10:57 Raw transcript of comments by NOLA evacuee : "The 17th street levee was bombed by the Army Corps of Engineers to sa... (more)
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